Word of Mouth

Title: "Word of Mouth" (500 words)
Author: Jimbo
Fandom: 'S.W.A.T.'
Pairing: Gamble/Street (Jeremy Renner, Colin Farrell)
Date: July 29, 2005
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters -- just borrowing them for the fun of it.
Warnings: None.
Notes: Written for Challenge #36 "It's not what you think" at slashthedrabble. I can't stop re-visiting this same theme, trying out all the possibilities. I promise, eventually I'll write something else.

He didn't wait for his throbbing head to clear before he changed out of his uniform, spraying tiny shards of the broken mirror everywhere. He pulled on jeans and a t-shirt and slammed his locker shut, his car keys already in his hand.

"Seven years bad luck," he muttered to himself. "And that's how long we've known each other!"

Five years as partners on the Los Angeles police force. Before that, two years in Special Ops together, saving lives and one another's asses. Gamble and Street. Legends in their own time.

He should have denied it. His partner had accused him of the unthinkable, and he had just stood there and taken it. How the hell could Brian believe he would have sided with Captain Fuller and ratted him out? How many times had he stood side by side with the irrepressible Gamble and shared the consequences for one of the man's stunts?

This one time Jim Street had refused to go along, refused to turn his back on the job he had trained a lifetime to earn. And Gamble accused him of selling out! Street should have been the one doing the shoving. When his head was slammed back into the mirror, he had been briefly stunned. And now as his senses returned, it felt like warm saline was flushing up and down through his arms. Even his skin tingled.

"Fucking son of a bitch," he said through a clenched jaw.

His car knew the way to Gamble's apartment with hardly any help from him. He didn't care that his parking job was half-assed or that his hands shook when he shoved his keys in his pocket after vaulting out of the convertible. The confrontation between the two partners wasn't finished. Gamble could hardly strike and then walk away without even giving Street the chance to respond in kind.

He knew Gamble was home. He had parked within inches of the man's car.

"Whatta ya' want, Jimmy?" Gamble asked when he responded to Street's insistent rapping.

"This--" Street grabbed Gamble by the front of his shirt, the same way he had been grabbed earlier, grabbed and shoved. But instead of pushing, he pulled Gamble forward until their mouths collided. This time it was Gamble's turn to be too stunned to respond, even when Street's tongue took over.

"Jesus, Jimbo, you're choking me!" Gamble finally managed to say. "What the fuck you doin'?"

Street paused, trying to catch his breath, still tasting Gamble's lips. "I needed to tell you you're wrong. It wasn't what you thought. Fuller offered me my job, and I told him he could shove it up his ass."

Gamble stood silently for a minute, one hand on the door. "Okay. So what's with the tongue?"

Shrugging, Street backed up a little. "If you're going," he said, his voice husky. "I just wanted to kiss you goodbye." Then, reaching up and flicking the last of the glass out of his hair, he turned and walked away.

the end